I would like to tell you for dinner tonight my family dined on fresh, homemade sprouted bread, organic creamed kale and free-range chicken and quinoa casserole made with Amish cheese. For dessert we enjoyed chocolate pots de creme, made with only the finest Belgian chocolate, of course.
Except that we didn’t. Not even close.
Monday night my husband goes to graduate class, so he isn’t home for dinner. It’s just the boys and I. Getting homework, baths and bedtime done without my husband’s extra hands is hectic enough. I don’t want to fight with two picky eaters over why they have to eat spinach lasagna for dinner. So we ate chicken nuggets and french fries from the freezer, and I gave then both a banana to make up for not making a vegetable. Yes, I know a banana is a fruit.
We eat dinner at home most nights. I like to cook. But we don’t eat Pinterest-worthy meals very often. I don’t have time to spend a couple of hours in the kitchen every night. I don’t want to clean up the mess cooking a big meal makes. I’m not organized enough to spend an entire day once a month freezing all my suppers, and I have better things to do on a Saturday. My kids are picky. While I do introduce them to new foods now and then, it’s a waste of time and energy to force something they don’t like on them every night.
So if you’re weary of the Bento Box lunches, magazine quality photos on food blogs and everyone going gluten, sugar, fat and etc., etc. free, here’s my Real Life meal plan for the week:
Monday (Husband isn’t home)
- chicken nuggets from the freezer aisle
- french fries from the freezer aisle
- bananas
Tuesday (Husband isn’t home)
- boxed macaroni & cheese
- corn dogs from the freezer aisle
- apple slices
Wednesday
- pork chops
- broccoli with Velveeta (I know the fake cheese sort of counteracts the healthy properties of the vegetable, but it’s the only way they’ll put broccoli in their mouths.)
- baked potatoes
Thursday
- chicken & noodles ( I redeem myself a little here, because I actually make the noodles from scratch. Easier than you might think.)
- mashed potatoes (Potatoes two nights in a row. What can I say? I’m part Irish.)
- green beans (Look! A REAL vegetable. Without cheese!)
Friday
- I don’t know (Our weekend plans aren’t usually very solid. I never know what we might end up doing Friday and Saturday nights. So I don’t usually plan a meal. We might go out. We might eat leftovers. I might grab something that day at the grocery store.)
Saturday
- I don’t know (See Friday.)
Sunday
- Takeout Pizza Night (We love pizza. It’s a weekly thing around here.)
There you go. Either you feel better about the meals you serve, or you’re horrified that we eat this way and never want to come for dinner at my house. I’m just keepin’ it real.
What does a basic week night meal look like at your house?
Most of the time I plan things out on Sunday. But I have plenty of nights where we do takeout or scrape together something from the fridge. Weeknights are hectic. I’m definitely NOT horrified. haha
LOVE this! Most of us don’t have pin worthy meals every day. Heck most of the ones I try from Pinterest end up looking like roadkill and not at all as pretty as they were on there! Thanks for sharing the real and making one momma smile. Kudos to you!
Last night your Mom fixed your Wednesday night, minus the baked potatoes.
And, at least you learned something from Fern for Thursdays!
The boys will eat noodles with chicken or beef. And David even eats the peas you hate!
My meals are mix of both fast “frozen” food (or fast food like we last night) and meals I cook which sadly are rarely Pinterest presentable. I have picky eaters as well but they have improved now that they are a bit older and their tastebuds have changed. Well, except for my husband. By the way, I have been known to count pickles and ketchup as vegetables 🙂
I have an arsenal of 30 minute or less meals that I can make during the week. Lately I’ve been on a quest to find enough crock pot meals that I actually want to eat so I can go a whole week without actually cooking. I have one picky child so most of our meals include something she’ll eat like carrot sticks or bread. Yes there are nights when my child eats nothing but carrot sticks and milk, but that’s her choice so I don’t worry about it.
I love that you kept it real. 🙂 Sometimes you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. 🙂
I love this! i have 4 very young kids and my husband doesn’t get home from work until after 7, and my kids are hungry for dinner at 5:30. my dinner’s look a lot like this and i’m glad i’ve got a “keepin it real” sister out there! i say if the kids are fed and happy, we’re just fine.